Apple did not invent the mobile application. Phones have had apps since the first time a phone had a screen. These first apps, however, lived in a closed ecosystem; the calendar, web browser and games came preloaded and locked down. If you wanted something more, you needed to buy a new phone. App developers worked for or were close partners of the phone developer, and reach was extremely limited.

IBM has announced a collaboration with the BMW group to develop new potential interfaces for its Watson AI product into vehicles. The agreement will see the car manufacturer relocating a group of its researchers and engineers to the IBM headquarters for Watson IoT in Munich, with the scope of exploring new'intelligent assistant' functions for the BMW range. Four BMW i8 hybrid sports cars will also take up residence at the Munich centre, as lab fodder prototype Watson-based experiments to run on IBM's Bluemix cloud platform. According to today's release, the objective is the development of new'conversational interfaces' between cars and drivers. The i8's manual will be integrated into Watson's database for the purpose of the experiments, allowing drivers to ask natural language questions and hope to receive a better response than the commonly-lamented AI offer to'look it up on the web for you'.

We recently launched LinkedIn Learning, an online learning platform that enables students and professionals to take courses and learn the skills required to meet their career goals. As part of this platform, we provide personalized course recommendations. A/B testing indicates that we have 58% higher engagement rate when we provide personalized recommendations compared to generic or randomized recommendations. It's important to call out that these personalized recommendations are made possible by the robust, highly-structured knowledge base of member-skill-job connections that we have assembled at LinkedIn. For more information about this foundational work that enables machine learning and relevance at LinkedIn, please refer to Building the LinkedIn Knowledge Graph by Qi He, Bee-Chung Chen, and Deepak Agarwal.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is an important and evolving concept that is having significant impact within the Customer Experience industry -- and it's a topic that is being talked about on a seemingly daily basis at this point. But is AI really ready for primetime in customer care? I spoke with Michael Johnston, Lead Inventive Scientist at Interactions, about frequently asked questions about AI and Machine Learning as they apply to customer care. How do you define Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning? Artificial Intelligence refers to the capability of a machine to imitate intelligent human behavior.

Take a step back for a look at the big picture and it's clear that 2016 was a remarkable year for bots and virtual assistants. Within the span of a few months this spring, Google, Apple, Facebook, and Microsoft all made plans to grow bot ecosystems and invited developers to build bots or virtual assistants integrations for their platforms. If that sounds dry or technical, think of it this way: All of these companies want a relationship with you. They want to be in your home, your smartphone, your car, and your office. They want to be your everything.

Mark Zuckerberg envisions a software system inspired by the "Iron Man" character Jarvis as a virtual butler managing his household. The Facebook founder's dream is about artificial intelligence, which is slowly but surely creeping into our daily lives, no longer just science fiction. Artificial intelligence or AI is getting a foothold in people's homes, starting with the Amazon devices like its Echo speaker which links to a personal assistant "Alexa" to answer questions and control connected devices such as appliances or light bulbs. Analyst Carolina Milanesi of the research firm Creative Strategies said that "2016 was the year about raising awareness, and exposing consumers to the idea of AI in a more mass market way." Milanesi said it may take time for the technology to fulfill its potential, noting that companies need "a strong hook" to bring large numbers of consumers into this world.

An Event Hub that enables the ingestion of data from the HoloLens client application. A Stream Analytics job that consumes the telemetry data, analyzes it real time, and writes the insights derived into Power BI, as an output. An Event Hub that enables the ingestion of data from the HoloLens client application. A Stream Analytics job that consumes the telemetry data, analyzes it real time, and writes the insights derived into Power BI, as an output.

Mercedes-Benz is one of the first Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) to combine the Google Assistant on Google Home with their vehicles, and signals another step forward in the company's connectivity strategy – seamless and intelligent interaction between the customer's Internet of Things (IoT)/Wearables devices and their Mercedes-Benz Cars. "In the last decade, we've seen a range of benefits when smart technology is combined with transportation," said Sajjad Khan, vice president of digital vehicle & mobility at Daimler. "This newest integration shows just how intelligent the car of the future will be, and we plan to roll out more applications as the year progresses that will make daily life even more accessible and convenient." Arriving in the first months of 2017 Mercedes-Benz customers will be able in specific markets to communicate with their cars through their Google Home. Streamlining the customer's digital lifestyle by connecting the car to the IoT has been a rapid evolution during the last few years.

Young adults are increasingly shunning romantic relationships, resulting in plunging birth rates and a declining population. It has reached the point that Japanese media has even come up with a name for it: sekkusu shinai shokogun--celibacy syndrome. To fill this intimacy void, a Japanese firm has come up with a holographic companion that allows its owner to "enjoy a life with someone while still retaining your freedom." Azuma Hikari, developed by Gatebox, offers similar services to virtual assistants developed by Amazon, Apple and Microsoft, but comes in a much more anthropomorphic form. Hikari's holographic projection resides in a 50cm glass tube and is described by Gatebox as a "comforting character that is great for those living alone."

Virtually everywhere you look, Bay Area tech businesses are running into walls. Smartphones were revolutionary and lucrative, but the U.S. market is saturated, and Apple's iPhone sales have fallen for three quarters. The "app economy" has matured, with more people using existing apps than downloading new ones. And Facebook, which has filled users' news feeds with so many ads it can barely add more, is predicting its revenue growth will slump next year. Silicon Valley needs its next big thing, a focus for the concentrated brain power and innovation infrastructure that have made this region the world leader in transformative technology.